Five years after his estranged wife vanished, a Texas man has revealed to investigators where he hid her body, KHOU-TV reports.
On Monday, Joey Sanchez pleaded guilty to murder in connection with the disappearance of 39-year-old Jennifer Sanchez. Jennifer was last seen around 1 a.m. on September 7, 2018, with Joey, whom she had a restraining order against, according to Fox 26.
Prosecutors charged Joey two weeks later, even though they didn’t have a body. Since then the case has languished, but that changed this week. As part of a plea deal, Joey reportedly told police that he dumped Jennifer’s body in Galveston, although it is not clear whether he was being honest.
“We don’t know if it’s the truth. If he did throw her in the ocean, it’s just a pinpoint,” Jennifer’s mother, Ophelia Gomez, told KHOU-TV.
In exchange, Joey was sentenced to 50 years in prison and avoided a jury trial, according to Newsweek. He also reportedly revealed how he murdered Jennifer, information that was disturbing to her loved ones.
“He said that he strangled her with his hands and hit her with a beer bottle and he cut her in the temple,” Gomez told KHOU-TV.
Yvonne Wiemann, Jennifer’s aunt, said Joey had been a violent person while married to Jennifer. His criminal history includes a conviction for aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, according to KHOU-TV. He also is a convicted sex offender who served prison time for raping a 14-year-old girl, according to Law&Crime.
While the plea deal and sentencing may provide some semblance of closure to Sanchez’s family, Gomez mourns what could have been.
“She never got to see her grandbabies. One of them is so much like her,” Gomez told KHOU-TV.
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[Feature Photo: Jennifer Sanchez/Handout]
